Process of manufacturing a fibrous composition.



the total weight and being preferably about JAMES c. WOODLEY, or nvnnsron', ILLINOIS.

" rnocnss or MANUFACTURING A rIinao s comrosirion.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Diet). 2, 111915.

No Drawing. Original application filed October 20, 1913, Serial N0.-79 6,14=3. Divided and this application filed March 11, 1915. Serial No. 13,667.

1915, I have described a composition of mat ter adapted for use in roofing sheets and in various other articles of manufacture and have described processes of producing said composition and have claimed the composition and process broadly.- The present application is a division of the application for the aforesaid patent relating to a process of manufacture of such compositions.

The product comprises disintegrated fibrous material and a gummy binder, specifically disintegrated paper fiber and a bituminous binder, the fibrous material varying in proportion from five to fifty per cent. of

twenty per cent. thereof.

According to the present invention the product is obtained by superficially coating. 30

a fibrous mass with a gummy material and then passing it one or more times through foraminous plates so as to effect a kneading andmixing operation which disintegr'ates the coated -mass without destroying its fibrous condition. The composition thus pro duced may then be compressed into the form, of any of the desired articles of 'manufacture. 1

The process will be specifically. described as applied to the manufacture oiloofing sheets.

To a suitable residuum oil T add a bitu- -minous-material such as gilsonite, asphalt,

grahamite, elaterite or other hard asphalt. The material is heated to a temperature of approximately 400 in order to reduce the bituminous ingredient to a liquid condition and effect its thorough mixture with the oil. The proportions may vary'within a considerable range but. should be such that when cooled the material is semi-solid and'gummy.

.- For example, a residuum oil having a melt- 1 ing point of 100 to 120 F. and grahamite.

may be mixed in the ratio of eighty-eight parts of oil to twelve parts of graham'ite'by weight. Or I may take a softer asphalt and temper the same in known manner to produce a product of thesame consistency at ordinary temperatures. Generally speaking, the binder may be a natural or artificial asphalt or natural or artificial pitch of the desired consistency or a combination of roofing or flux oil or other soft a'sphalts with harder natural asphalts such as gilsonite, or

with harder distilled asphalts or pitches, or

may be any equivalent material or combination of materials.

To the hot. liquid binding material is added a quantity of fibrous material such, for example, as waste paper, which may be advantageollsly in the form of paper shavings or strips such as the cuttings from a printing shop, although other fibrous materials aresuitable for the purpose. The paper is pref erably moist or wet and its addition to the ,75 binder quickly cools the latter to a gummy 1 condition. The mixture of fibrous material and the gummy binder is then worked in a kneading and mixing machine. The paper waste may be added to the liquid" bituminous binder and thoroughly mixed therewith in order to efl'ect a coating of the paper with the solution as far as is practicable, and then removed from the liquid and allowed to drain and cool. For some purposes the amount of asphalt which adheres to the paper is such as to be in excess of that required and under such circumstances the liquid composition may be otherwise applied as by spraying upon the paper in order to secure athinner coating, the hardness of the finished product varying with the relative proportions of paper and asphalt and the con- 'sistency of the asphalt.

The coated paper'having been allowed to cool to a semi-solid consistency is forced under great pressure through one or more perforated plates (or repeatedly through the same plate) from which it emerges as a mass of apparently fibrous asphalt in which it is practically impossible to distinguish particles of the fibrous material, the paper having been so intimately incorporated with the asphalt by the peculiar'action which results from the forcing of the mass through the foraminous plates as to have practically lost its identity and become broken down into its individual component fibers. This peculiar result is believed to be explainable as follows: If, as

iswellknown, a sheet of paper, for'instance,

be cemented between two layers of elastic material and such material be then stretched so as to be extended .in all its/parts, the interposed paper not beingelastic will be disintegrated not by breaking at a few points but at an infinite number of points soas to maintain its relation to the elasticmateof fibrous particles of appreciable size with in the asphalt but distinct therefrom.

The bituminous mixture need not be liquid when the paper is added, and in fact itis preferably in a soft semi-solid condition. It maybe allowed to cool down to this condition. Or if it'is liquid originally, the condition ofthe paper, which is moist or wet,

quickly cools it to a gummy consistency. Instead of using paper I may employ various 7 other aggregated fibrous materials, such as throughout the mass,

felt, cloth, straw or the like. Also the fibrous material may be in a partially or a completely disintegrated or separated'condition 30 before applying it to the-asphalt. Such a disintegrated material for example, is paper pulp, beaten rag stock, cooked straw, cotton or wool fiber, or the like, disintegrated in beating or Jordan engines or pulping ma chinery or carding or similar machines. Or

' a. mineral fiber such as asbestosmay'be employed. Or a mixture of two or more kinds of fiber may be employed. Less disintegrating action will be required if the fibrous material is in a previously dis-- integrated or partly disintegrated condition,

but even in such cases the fibrous material when first introduced into the binder will be in bunches," wads, or twisted or tangled :masses and a certain amountof disintegrating'will be requ red to separate the fibers from each other to such extent as is necessary to have the fibers distributed substan- 'tially uniformly throughout the composition and als to permit them to be coated uniformly w 1 h the binder, and in some cases saturated or partly saturated by the binder or a-portion of the same. i

The mixing and kneading process serves to separate the elementary fibers from contact with each otherand to thoroughly coat them and distribute them so-as toproduce the homogeneous product desired; whereas without the kneading or pulling operation wh1ch 1s a characteristic of my process such fibers would simply be cemented together in balls or comparatively large aggregations into whichthe binding material would fail to enter perfectly and which would not produce a homogeneous product. Also the fibrous material were only roughly separated in the'beginning it The process is facilitated by moistenin or wetting the fibrous material beforehan or by adding water to the mixture; in which case the water will not combine to any material extent with the gummy material, but

,Will soften the fibrous material. I prefer to.

keep the amount of water present as low as possible. A practicable proportion of. moisture is 50% of the fibrous material. The wetting of the fibrous material produces a better product by weakening the cohesion of the elementaryfibers to each other, and by v softening the size on the surface in the case of certain kinds of paper. Where the ma terialhas not been moistened the fibers do not separate so easily, but are individually broken to a greater extent than where the material is moistened, and the product is not so strong.

In some cases it may be practicable to 1ntroduce the fibrous material, such as paper, to-the asphalt in a solid condition, and by gently heating the mass without reducing to a liquid condition and forcing the paper and gummy asphalt mixture through the plates, to simultaneously effect the coating and disintegrationof the paper.

In either case the composition as it emerges from the foraminous plate is gummy but not especially tacky or sticky at ordinary temperatures. In order to form the same into shape for different purposes it will be warmed and .will then develop coh'ering qualities adapting it to be formed under pressure and to retain the shape imparted thereto.

If roofing sheets are to be made the quantities of paper and of asphaltum entering into the mass will have been so roportione as to obtain a tough product 0 considerable resiliency and such proportions may advantageously be up to about equal quantities by weight of paper and asphaltum. Certain fibrous materials of commerce contain nonfibrous matters.

When such materials are used they may be used in such quantitles that their fibrous, content will run up to about equal weight with that of the asphaltum. This pasty product coming from the foraminous plate .is warmed and may then be passed between forming rollers which may revolve in a body of cold water and the resultant sheet be led into and through cold water in order to chill the same. The sheet may then be led between other pressing rolls by which it is compacted to a high degree of density and may be then passed between smoothing rolls in order to impart a surface finish, or Where desired, the sheet after passing through the pressing rolls and the smoothing rolls may be led through a bath 1. The process "of producing a substantially homogeneous fibrous gummy mass which consists in superficially coating a fibrous mass with a gummy material and forcing the same through a foraminous plate to disintegrate the coated mass without destroying its fibrous condition. r

2. The process of producing a substantially homogeneous fibrous gummy mass which consists in forcing through a fora-minous plate a massof paper in intimate adhering contact with a gummy asphaltic binder to disintegrate the coated mass with out destroying its fibrous'condition.

3. The process of producing a substantially homogeneous fibrous gummy mass whichzconsists in adding a fibrous mass to a gummy mass and forcing the same through a foraminous plate to disintegratejt and produce a coated mass without destroying its fibrous condition.

4. The herein described process which consistsin superficially coating paper with a hot asphalt, allowing the coated material to cool, and then forcing the same through a foraminous plate to disintegrate the coated fiber and produce a homogeneous pasty product.

5. The herein described process which consists in dipping paper into a bath of molten asphalt, allowing the coated paper to drain End cool, and forcing the coated paper thr ugh a series of perforated plates to disintegrate the fiber and produce a homogeneous pasty product.

6. The herein described process which consists in dipping paper into a bath of molten asphalt, allowing the coated paper to drain and cool, and forcing the coated paper through perforated. plates to disintegrate the fiber and produce a homogeneous pasty product.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I JAMES C. WOODLEY.

Witnesses:

D. ANTHONYVUSINA, LULU STUBENyoLL. 

